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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. O. WOODMAN. OIL PRESS PLATE.

No. 369,761. Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

O. WOODMAN. OIL PRESS PLATE.

No. 369,761. Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

CLARK WOODMAN, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

OIL-PRESS PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,761, dated September 13, 1887. Application filed March 19, 1887. Serial No. 231,603. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARK Woommn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oil-Press Plates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the plates used in hydraulic presses for expressing oil from flax and other oleaginous seeds or substances, and more especially to the kind thereof made wholly of metal. In use a series of these plates is arranged in the press with portions of the material to be compressed between each pair of them, and each plate is provided with proper drainage-channels for carrying off the oil. The material previous to putting into the press is formed into cakes and enveloped in cloth. It is an essential feature in plates of this class that they possess the ability to conform to the inequalities in the material operated upon, due to the imperfections of the preliminary cake-forming operation. These inequalities are caused by the fact that the material in some parts of the cake will be thicker and denser than in others, and the result of their presence is, that when the power of the press is put upon the cake either the thicker or more dense portions of it willreceive almost the entire pressure and the other portions be only imperfectly acted upon or the plate itself will yield to the inequalities and be bent out of shape.

No form of plate made wholly of metal has heretofore been devised possessing the elasticity enabling it to yield to the cake in this respect withoutinjury to itself, and my invention is designed to provide a plate having such elasticity.

The invention consists in a plate composed of longitudinal bars, wherein are formed proper drainage channels or ducts, in combination with an elastic bottom of thin metal, such as sheet-steel, and a suitable frame, all combined and possessing the requisite elasticity, substantially as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, I have shown at Figure 1 a plan view of myimproved plate, and at Fig. 2 a cross-section. Fig. 3 is a partial transverse vertical section through the rivets fastening the parts together. At Fig. 4. is a section similar to Fig. 3, taken upon the line through the ducts leading to the drainage-channels. Fig. 5 is a partial longitudinal section taken upon the line between two of the upper bars. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the drainage-channels provided with movable bottoms. Fig. 7 is a plan; Fig. 8, an end elevation. Fig. 9 is a cross-section of a modified construction. Fig. 10 is an enlarged partial cross vertical section of the'modification. Fig. 11 is a partial plan, and Fig. 12 a partial side View, of one of the bars used in the modification. Fig. 13 is a partial cross vertical section of the modified construction provided with removable channelbottoms, and Fig. 14. is a partial longitudinal section of the construction in Fig. 13

In said drawings, 0 O are side bars having troughs or channels 0 formed in their upper surface. They are connected at their ends by cross-bars D, and, together with the latter, constitute the frame of the plate. The drainage portion of the plate is composed of a series of longitudinal bars, H,wherein are formed longitudinal channels a, whereby the oil may 'be drawn off. I prefer that the channeled drainage-bars should be somewhat fiat in crosssection, and to employ two layers or series thereof, one series above the other, with the two series breaking joints with each other-that is to say, with the junctions between the bars in one series located between the junctions between the bars in the other series. The channels a, when two series of bars are thus employed, are conveniently formed partly in each series, as illustrated in Figs. 3and 4ithat is, with one-quarter of the circle taken from the lower corners of the upper bars and the remainder of the channel formed in the upper surface of the under bars. These bars, as well as the bars constituting the frame, are made of elastic metal, like steel, so that they will spring back when bent or deflected from their normal plane. The under surface of the lower bars is corrugated, as shown, and under the entire surface of the plate is placed a bottom, E, of thin metal, preferably sheet-steel, and corrugated to correspond to the corrugations of the bars. It is secured by rivets e passing into it from the side and drainage bars. At intervals along the sides of the bars are vertical ducts 1), leading from the top surface to said channels a, and serving to admit the oilto the latter. The channels a catch the overflow of the oil at the sides, if there should be any.

With this construction of plate elasticity is obtained sufficient to allow the plate to bend or twist in accordance with the inequalities of the cake upon which it is operating without injury to itself, and itimmediately resumes its normal condition as soon as the pressure of the press is released. The bending may take place in almost any direct-ion, as all the parts are sufficiently elastic to permit the amount of yielding required, and the interior of the plate mayyield, if necessary, without sensibly disturbing the outer parts.

In the modification illustrated at Figs. 7 to 12, inclusive, instead of the two series of bars placed one above the other, I employ a single series of substantially square bars, A, wherein the channels are formed by excavating the sides of the bars one-half of the channel in each bar. This plate is in other respects like the plate already described, having the same elastic frame and bottom.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 the longitudinal channels for the expressed oil are provided with removable or false bottoms to facilitate the removal of obstructions therein in case they should become clogged. These bottoms are formed by the bars J and they may be located one between each pair of the under bars H of the first-described construction or form of plate. The bars J are also corrugated to conform to thesheet-metal bottom, and are intended to be movable in a longitudinal direction by applying power to the end. The plate constructed of the square barsA may also be provided with removable bottoms for the drainage-channels, in the manner shown in Figs. 13 and 14. In this case, F indicates the removable bars forming the bottoms of the channels, and they may be let into the bars A at either side, and provided with side ledges, fiproj ecting upwardly and extending along their upper corners,while the bars are provided with downwardly-hanging ledges 9, setting inside the ledges f, and are other wise shaped to conform to the bars F. By the ledges f and g the entrance of meal between the drainage and removable bars is prevented, and such ledges may also be employed with removable channel bottom bars. (Shown at Fig. 6.)

desirable that the top of the drainage-bars be provided with slight depressions, m,to prevent the slipping of the cake and cloth bodily upon the plate. These depressions may coincide with the ducts I), though not necessarily so.

In my improved platethe drainage bars serve all the functions of the expensive hair mats heretofore used, and take up less vertical space than such mats, thereby enabling the placing of an increased number of cakes in the press at a time.

I claim- 1. The elastic metal oilpress plate, composed of and in which are combined a series of drainagebars forming a mat, a frame,and a flexible sheet metal bottom, substantially as specified.

2. The elastic metal oil -press plate, composed of and in which are combined a series of drainage-bars, a frame consisting of side bars, 0, and cross-bars D, and a flexible bottom of sheet metal, substantially as specified.

3. An elastic metallic oil-press plate, the drainage or mat portion whereof is composed of an upper and a lower series of elastic bars, wherein are formed the drainage channels, substantially as specified.

4. The elastic metallic oil press plate, the drainage or mat portion whereof is composed of an upper series and a lower series of elastic bars, H, between which the channels a are formed, substantially as specified.

5. The combination, in an oil-press plate, of upper and lower series of elastic bars H,- wherein are formed channels a, the lower series being corrugated upon the under surface with the elastic metal corrugated bottom E, substantially as set forth.

6. In a metallic oilepress plate, the combination, with the longitudinal metallic drain age-bars, of the removable bars J or F, forming the bottoms of the drainage-channels,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

CLARK WOODMAN.

Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, LEW'E. CURTIS. 

